


Up or Down

by lamarina



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Dates, M/M, TA Kun, not quite Student/Teacher, student johnny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26077225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamarina/pseuds/lamarina
Summary: Caught between a cute TA and a foreign language credit, what's a guy to do?
Relationships: Suh Youngho | Johnny/Qian Kun
Comments: 18
Kudos: 136
Collections: Johnkun Fic Fest Round 1 (2020)





	Up or Down

**Author's Note:**

> #H042 for JKFF!
> 
> Hello, everyone, and welcome again to my sorry attempt at writing. This fic is far from perfect and if I could I would tweak quite a bit of it. But I'm out of practice with writing. So I just want to say thank you to the mods for their never ending patients and to the promoter, I hope this is suitable!! Thank you!

Johnny knows, of course, that he is going to regret waiting until his senior year of college to fulfil the foreign language requirement. The idea of trudging through a 101 class full of what was almost guaranteed to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed freshmen already sounded exhausting to him. It's entirely his fault, of course. He shouldn’t have blown off such a basic requirement for so long. But alas, he has made his bed, and now it’s time to lay in it.

Standing in line at the student store with Chinese 101 materials tucked under his arm, Johnny sighs. These are definitely going to put a dent in his student account.

Mark, standing next to Johnny with an almost comically large armful of materials, nudges him in the arm with his elbow.

“Hm?” Johnny turns to Mark and raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Why are you taking Chinese this year? Don’t you think it would be easier to take another language, like...French? Or Spanish, with me?” Mark awkwardly gestures to the Spanish textbook resting on the pile of materials in his arms. “It would be a lot of fun.”

Johnny sighs. “Mark, you’re a sophomore. I’m a senior. The university’s language requirement for graduation is two years of an Indo-European language...or one year of a non-IE language. This is already my fifth year. I’d like to graduate in the spring.”

Mark blinks.

“What?”

“Never mind. Plus, Chinese shouldn’t be that bad. I’ve gotten permission to take it Pass/Fail, so...as long as I’m not terrible at it, I’ll be fine.” Johnny shifts on his feet and grunts. “I really wish I hadn’t waited until the last minute to buy textbooks. I could have bought used ones for significantly cheaper online than whatever markup they’re selling these for to fill a sales quota.”

“You think too much, Johnny. I think you spent too much time with Doyoung over the summer.”

Johnny rolls his eyes.

+

Alright, so, maybe Mark had a point. Classes haven’t even begun yet and Johnny feels like he’s a bit in over his head as he flips through the textbook and reads the syllabus that was uploaded to Canvas by the professor.

_ Pass, fail, John, pass, fail, _ Johnny thinks to himself. No stress there. Language classes are supposed to be fun! Not only is the class going to be an introduction to the Chinese language, but it’s going to cover China’s culture and history, in order to (to quote the syllabus directly) “give students a comprehensive introduction to the history and language of China so that they will leave the course able to communicate effectively in an increasingly globalized world.”   
  
That’s a lot to expect out of a 101 class.

+

It’s almost instantaneous, how out of place Johnny feels on the first day of his Chinese 101 class. His prediction about bright-eyed and bushy tailed freshmen seems to have been almost too on the nose.

Sitting in a desk near enough to the front that he can see the blackboard well enough while also avoiding the hot seat, Johnny pulls his textbook and binder out of his book bag. As the professor still hasn’t shown up, he takes his phone out as well and sends a quick text to doyoung and Mark.

9:44 a.m.

still no sign of prof

9:45 a.m.   
**mark:** but there’s still 15 minutes until calss begins, right?

class*

9:47 a.m.

**mark:** professor no show = no class ont he first day :P

9:48 a.m.   
Lots of overeager frosh i think

9:49 a.m.   
**mark:** wtf is a frosh?

Johnny sighs and flips his phone upside down. That’s enough of that for now. He turns to his classmate sitting to his right, and attempts to get his attention. He’s chatting animatedly with whoever’s sitting to  _ his _ right, and Johnny finally taps him on the shoulder.

“Hi!” he chirps. Johnny smiles.

“Hi,” Johnny replies. “I’m doing a survey.”

The boy frowns. “On the first day? What class is it for?”   
  
“I work for the uhh, office of student life,” Johnny lies. “Uh. Are you a freshman?”   
  
“Sure am!”

Johnny should have figured as much. “Cool. Thanks.”

9:53 a.m.

**mark:** bet you wish you were taking spanish rn huh?

9:54 a.m.

quiet

9:54 a.m.

**mark** : If you’re not overeager why are you in class so early?

+

Five minutes after class is supposed to begin, at 10:05 a.m., a frazzled looking woman comes speed walking into class, followed by a short young man, who looks only somewhat frazzled, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

“Good morning!” The woman looks out at the class and smiles. “My name is Janet Zhang. You may call me Professor Zhang, Dr. Zhang, or, as the class progresses, you may also call me ‘lǎoshī.’ I will be your instructor this quarter!” She folds her hands together and bows briefly to the students. “I apologize for my tardiness today. I won’t make a habit of this! The first week of classes are generally very stressful for me.”

  
The class murmurs in agreement. Johnny kind of likes her already.

“However! This quarter I’m so happy to have a graduate student assisting me! Everyone, please say hello to your TA, Kun Qian.”

The young man from earlier steps forward and waves at the class, then laughs at himself. “Hello.”

Johnny sits up a little straighter. Are TAs allowed to be cute? Aren’t they supposed to all be frumpy graduate students with dark circles from lack of sleep and premature wrinkles from the stress of being a professional student, making minimum wage while also owing thousands of dollars to the school?

“As Professor Zhang said, my name is Kun Qian. You may call me Kun! I have Bachelors in Chinese with a minor in Asian languages and cultures and a Masters in Chinese. This is the first quarter of my Ph.D program, and in addition to being the TA for this course, I will also be assisting with the Literature and Culture of Ancient and Classical China course.” Kun smiles out at the class. “If you have any questions, feel free to run them by me. I’m very excited to work with you all this quarter.”

_ Whoa. _

Professor Zhang steps forward. “Thank you, Kun. In order to get to know you guys, I’ve prepared a brief question sheet for you all to fill out. Please take one and pass it down the row.”

When Johnny was passed the stack of papers, he took one and held it over his shoulder for the next person. Grabbing his backpack, he grabbed a pen from the front pocket and clicked it open.

Name: Johnny Suh

Year: Senior

Major and minor: Communications

Audio technology, music & society minor

Why Chinese?

This is where Johnny pauses. How honest should he be? He decides to go for the full truth, without making it sound like he’s dreading the class (he definitely isn’t, at least not anymore, not with the cute TA around).

Why Chinese? I’m a senior and I put off my language gen. ed. requirement. I started college later than everyone so I’m already a little bit older and a little bit behind. I want to graduate this year so I’m taking a language class that satisfies the requirement after just one year, not two. Plus I already know Korean, so that’s not an option.

Johnny finishes writing and passes his sheet up with the rest of everyone else’s. Kun collects the sheet while Professor Zhang pulls up the syllabus on the computer and projects it for the whole class. As she begins to cover everything, Johnny zones out and glances at Kun, sitting in the corner, every so often.

+

“On a scale of one to unquestionably wrong, how bad is it to have a relationship with one of your TAs?” Johnny’s kicking around a hacky sack in the living room while Jaehyun lays on the carpeted floor reading a motorcycle magazine. He sits up at Johnny’s question.

“What are you talking about?”

Johnny kicks the hacky sack up and catches it before sitting on the couch. “The TA for my Chinese class. He’s, well, he’s hot. And smart.” Johnny throws the hacky sack a few times in the air. “Kind of short, though.”

“Plenty of people are short compared to you.” Jaehyun turns the page of his magazine. “You’re seriously going to try and fuck your Chinese TA?”

“Maybe. I’m just wondering...how morally wrong it is. He’s not a professor, so it can’t be that bad, right?”

Jaehyun considers this for a moment. “I mean, I would do it.”

“There's not much you  _ wouldn't  _ do, Jaehyun.” Jaehyun laughs at this.

“True!”

+

Since the class is an introductory, 101 class, Johnny has Chinese every day, mornings at 10, for just 50 minutes. Though the class is short, having it every day is enough for Johnny to try and get to know Kun.

On the first Friday of class, Johnny is listening as the professor goes over tones. Standard Chinese, otherwise known as Han Chinese or Putonghua in Mainland China, has 4 tones, which Johnny makes note of, before taking a quick look at Kun, who is sitting in a chair in the corner, listening to the lecture too.

10:50 brings the end of class, and as Professor Zhang calls out and reminds everyone of the homework assignment, the students begin to gather their things and shuffle for the door. Johnny drags his feet a little, trying to think of how he is going to carefully orchestrate starting a conversation with Kun.

Turns out, he doesn't need to, because Kun goes up to  _ him _ .

Johnny is close to the door when he's called out to. “Hey, wait.” 

Johnny turns, and there's Kun, trying to get his attention. He’s smiling. “Yes?”

“You are Johnny Suh, right?” Kun adjusts the strap of his messenger bag and Johnny nods. “I wanted to talk to you because when the professor and I were going over the introductory sheets she gave out on the first day of class, I noticed that you wrote down audio technology as your minor.”

Johnny rubs his neck. “Yeah.”

“That’s so cool!”

_ Huh? _

Kun turns red briefly. “I mean, I’m into music, too. I play the piano and guitar. I was in a band in high school and undergrad.”

_ Oh! _

“Whoa. That’s really cool, actually. Did you guys ever get serious about it?” Johnny adjusts the straps of his backpack.

“Oh…” Kun laughs. “No, no, nothing too serious. It was a lot of fun, though. I was going to study music but changed my mind at the last minute.”

Johnny frowns. “Well, that’s too bad. I bet that would have been a lot of fun.”

“Yes, but if I was studying music, I don’t think we would have met!”

“O-oh.”

_ Is this flirting? _

“Well, see you on Monday, Johnny.”   
  
“Yeah, ‘bye.”

+

“My TA was definitely flirting with me after class this morning,” Johnny says to Jaehyun and Doyoung while they eat pizza and breadsticks in the living room, a soccer game playing on the television.

Doyoung makes a noise of disapproval. “You’re imagining things. A teacher wouldn’t be so unprofessional.”

Jaehyun snatches a breadstick off of Doyoung’s plate. “He’s not a teacher, he’s a teaching  _ assistant _ .”

“Of course you're on his side.” Doyoung rolls his eyes.

“What does that even mean?” Jaehyun scoffs.

“It MEANS...well, what do you think? It means you’re horny.”

Jaehyun laughs and shoves Doyoung’s shoulder. “Shut up, man.”

“Can you guys stop flirting and focus on me? This is about me and my TA.” Johnny dips his pizza slice into some garlic sauce. “Should I go for it?”

“Yes.” “No.”

Jaehyun and Doyoung speak in unison and glare at each other after, before realizing the ridiculousness of the situation and laughing.

Johnny sighs and stands up. “You guys are so annoying. I can’t deal with this.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, John.”

+

Of course Johnny does something stupid.

He snatches his laptop from his desk, sits down on his bed, and opens up Canvas immediately. At the left side of the page, he clicks Messages and hits the icon to send a new mail to someone from his courses.

Including his TA.

This is not right, right? Maybe Johnny should listen to Doyoung. He generally gave good advice and kept Jaehyun and Johnny from screwing up their lives.

_ Kun Qian _ .

“hey, it's Johnny. Well. I guess you could tell that. Well, anyway, I was wondering what time during the week you arent teaching? Maybe we could get some coffee on campus and talk music. That’s all I wanted to say. Okay bye.”

And ping, sent.

+

On Monday after class, Kun approaches Johnny again.

“Johnny! Hey!” Kun smiles. “Sorry I didn’t reply to your email. I got kinda busy this weekend, but I’ve finally sorted out my office hours! Did...you still want them?”

“Oh!” Johnny perks up. “Um. Yeah!”

“Let’s talk outside.” Kun ushers Johnny to the door of the classroom and they walk down the hall to an open area with tables and chairs. “My office is actually in this hall. It’s on the syllabus.” He smiles. “And my hours this quarter are Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 to 2:30 and Fridays from 11 to 12. Will I be seeing you this afternoon?”

“Definitely.”   
  
+

At around noon, Johnny and Jaehyun meet up at the campus coffee shop inside of the library for lunch. It has only been a few minutes and Jaehyun is already giving Johnny a hard time.

“So.” Jaehyun sips his tea. “A week into school and some light, one might even say negligible flirting, and you’re throwing yourself at the sexy TA?”

“Why am I friends with you?”

“Ah, whatever, man. I support you! You know that.”

Johnny pulls apart his bagel and takes a bite from the bottom piece. “I don't really know anything about him, but that's why I want to get to know him. And I definitely think there’s something between us. Or. There will be.” He raises his eyebrows.

“And you’re  _ sure _ you're getting less-than-academic vibes from him?”

“I’m positive.”

Jaehyun sighs. “I truly hope you’re right, because I don’t want to check the mail and suddenly there’s a sexual harassment case against you from the school in it.”

Now it’s Johnny’s turn to sigh.

+

At five minutes to 1, Johnny is sitting on one of the chairs outside the group of offices in the languages wing of the humanities building. He has his Chinese textbook open to one of the pages in the back, studying the hanzi on the page but not really studying them at all.

He looks up whenever he hears footsteps coming down the hall, waiting for Kun to come and unlock his door. So far, several people have come and gone, but no Kun yet.

Perusing the rest of the pages in his textbook, Johnny hears hurried, sharp footsteps from the opposite end of the hall, from up the stairs.

“Johnny?”

It’s Kun.

“Sorry I’m late!”

Johnny closes his textbook and slips it back into his backpack before zipping it up and slinging it onto his shoulders. “Hi. I don’t think you’re late.”

“It’s a shit habit of mine. I’m always rushing somewhere.” Kun unzips a pocket on his messenger back and fishes out a lanyard with several keys on it. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

Kun walks to his office door and unlocks it, opening it and ushering Johnny inside.

Johnny steps in past Kun, and takes a look around the office. It’s not very spacious, unlike an office that might belong to a tenure track professor instead of a graduate student, and the walls are mostly bare. A bookcase is situated in the corner, already crammed full of books and binders. The desk is equally as messy.

“Uh…” Kun starts, slipping past Johnny to sit in his chair. “I’m still working on decorating.”

Johnny laughs a little and sits in the chair across the desk from Kun. “I like it.”

Kun leans back and stretches his arms above his head. “Thanks.”

The air shifts and becomes slightly awkward. Johnny leans forward and drums his fingers on Kun’s desk.

“Johnny…” Kun laces his fingers together across his abdomen. “Why are you here? You don’t have a question about stroke order, do you?”

“Um. No.”

Kun unlaces his fingers and leans forward, propping his head on one of his hands. “Well, penny for your thoughts?”

Johnny leans forward and lowers his voice. Dramatic ass.

“Kun...off the record, are you single?”

Without hesitating, Kun asks, “Off the record?”

“Person to person. Not TA to student.”

Kun sits back. “Off the record...yes. I am.”

“Would you be interested in perhaps getting coffee together sometime?”

“Johnny…”

Oh, here we go.

“I think you are cute, and you seem nice…” Kun starts. “But…”

Johnny blinks.

“But I’m your TA. I’m an employee of the university, and I grade most of your assignments. It...just wouldn't be right, you know?” Kun gives Johnny a sort of half smile.

“If you didn't grade my assignments, would that change anything?” Johnny asks.

“What do you mean?” Kun tilts his head.

“I mean...it’s barely the second week of school. I could take Japanese...or Arabic...or Russian...instead of Chinese.” 

Kun smiles. “Is that so?”

Johnny smiles back. “Don’t you think Arabic would be fun to learn?” He stands up and grabs his backpack. “So, coffee?”

“Off-campus, not on campus.”

“Well, I guess I’d better head to the registrar now. I think I may also have some textbooks to exchange.” Johnny reaches for a pen on Kun’s desk and scribbles his phone number on the large calendar laying flat in front of Kun. “See you later.”

+

3:14 p.m.   
**mark:** you’re going out with your TA?   
  
3:15 p.m.   
He’s not my TA anymore!!   
  
+

Wednesday evening, Johnny’s at home working on homework for his new Japanese class, which takes place an hour later than Chinese had. No more 10 a.m.!

He’s sitting at the kitchen table, trying to ignore whatever the hell is going on in the living room. Jaehyun and Doyoung are always up to some sort of nonsense.

A knock on the front door pulls Johnny away from his homework and he hops out of his chair to answer it. Squinting through the peephole, Johnny smiles.

Kun!

Johnny opens the door and Kun slips inside. He smiles up at Johnny. “Coffee?”

From the living room, Jaehyun calls out, “Yo, Johnny! Is that the sexy TA?”

Johnny blushes, and Kun laughs.

“How about we get out of here,” Kun proposes.

“That sounds great.”

+

At the coffee shop, Kun orders an iced black coffee and Johnny gets a kiwi Italian soda.

Kun looks at Johnny a bit questionably, and Johnny flushes again slightly. “I don’t like having caffeine in the evening.”

“It’s cute.” Kun chuckles and leads the way to one of the tables in the back. “If we see anyone from the university, duck.”

Johnny sits across from Kun and takes a sip of his drink. “Hey, you’re not my TA anymore. We found a loophole, so it’s okay, right?”

Kun raises an eyebrow. “You think so? Is it worth it?”

“Um...are you worth it? I hope so.”

“You didn’t have your heart set on learning Chinese?”

Johnny stirs his Italian soda with the straw. “I had an idea. Maybe, you could teach me Mandarin, and in return, I’ll teach you Korean.”

“That sounds good to me.” Kun has a really pretty smile. Johnny hopes he’ll be seeing it for a lot longer after this.

+

On the walk back to Johnny’s apartment, Johnny and Kun talk about music the whole time. Johnny finds out Kun was in two different bands growing up, one in junior high and high school with a few of his friends, and during undergrad, he tried to get more serious with one friend from high school and a few of his buddies.

Unfortunately, the band never took off like they wanted it to, which drew Kun into a bit of a depression and he left the music major and switched to the languages department.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Kun says as they approach Johnny’s door. 

“Maybe you’re right.” Johnny reaches for Kun’s hands and laces their fingers together.

“Hm?” Kun smiles and tilts his head up at Johnny.

Johnny parts his lips to say something, but instead, Kun gets on his tiptoes ( _ cute!!! _ ) and kisses Johnny on the mouth. Soft, at first, just getting a feel for things, gripping Johnny’s hands perhaps a bit too hard.

Kun’s tongue brushes against Johnny’s, and he sighs, tilting his head and opening his mouth more for Kun to explore as he sees fit.

Just as things are starting to get more heated, the overhead light starts flickering on and off, on and off, several times. Internally, Johnny groans and squeezes his eyes shut tight.

Chuckling, Kun leaves one final peck on Johnny’s top lip before he pulls away. “The roommates, eh?”

Johnny groans out loud this time. “THANKS, mom and dad!” he shouts through the door. He thinks he hears giggling from the other side.

“So...so much for continuing the date inside, then?” Kun asks.

Johnny gasps. “Next time?”

Kun leans forward to Johnny’s ear. “I live alone.”

“So, there will definitely be a next time, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is not quite what I wanted it to be, but...I hope you liked it :) I haven't written in a long time; I hope to get back into it after this.


End file.
